


Boys Will Be Bugs

by eggyeggplant



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Humor, M/M, Minor Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Minor Violence, Short One Shot, Tags Are Hard, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:33:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27534571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eggyeggplant/pseuds/eggyeggplant
Summary: Keith is a dumb teen boy, he likes bugs more than most people, but he makes an exception for Lance. Lance does not really like bugs too much, but he likes Keith. They're going to raise a dog together one day.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 99





	Boys Will Be Bugs

**Author's Note:**

> a small quickie thing for Tam because she drew me an awesome bug boi Keith  
> [artwork by tam](https://twitter.com/imonstandbi/status/1324571577120272384)  
> we both like the song boys will be bugs by cavetown

Keith lies down on the sidewalk, vibing with the ant colony outside his home that is just trying to survive. They get along because he understands their ‘nother day, ‘nother dollar mentality even though he’s never had a job in his life—does mowing the lawn for some allowance count? The pavement is a little hot, but Keith is not a stranger to being sunburnt. Upon request, he is wearing a long sleeve and a hat because the other option was wearing sunblock. Keith reaches into the pockets of his shorts and takes out a crushed box of raisins, scattering a few onto the pavement, watching his friends scamper to their treat and feels proud of himself for contributing to their society.

“You’re welcome,” Keith says affectionately. Ants never bite when Keith sticks a finger in their ant trail, and he even convinces a couple to even crawl on his hands. Krolia looks out of the window, debating if she should drag him inside yet, sees Keith getting grass stains all over his shorts while trying to hop with the crickets, and decides she’s going to have some more wine coolers.

-

Public school is nothing like being homeschooled, but apparently, it’s supposed to be good for helping him integrate into society. There are just too many people, too many subjects that are IRRELEVANT to Keith’s interests, and too many hours of being indoors. The smell of stale air conditioning somehow tastes like cardboard box and they don’t even let Keith open the windows because people are afraid bugs will fly in. What’s wrong with bugs? People are so stuck up and hateful about living creatures that are just trying to live their lives.

Keith moodily spends most of his time etching doodles onto the desks, ignoring the people around him. He’s supposed to be making “real friends” but none of them are “really” interested in him beyond confirming their perceptions about homeschooling—well Keith’s not interested in them either unless they have four wings or eight legs. Mr. Shiro is a different story because he’s kinda nice and lets Keith borrow books to read if he finishes his work early.

“You’d probably be more popular hanging out with other people your age,” Mr. Shiro comments, eating his meal prepped chicken breasts, spinach, and quinoa. Keith raises an eyebrow, barely looking up from where he’s immersed in reading _Animal Farm_ and eating ‘ants on a log’ (celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins) (Keith really loves raisins.)

“I thought cool people have their own apartments and kissable face,” Keith sneers, definitely reminding Mr. Shiro of the _one time_ he picked up a phone call from Matt during lunch break to gush about Adam while Keith was still in the room.

“Why were you even listening to that?”

“Because I’m developing multi-tasking skills,” Keith replies snidely, “for my resume. Also, you probably should stop taking love advice from a person that thinks Tinder is a reputable matchmaking source.”

Mr. Shiro pauses, stabbing his lunch moodily. “You’re probably right.”

-

Keith… does not take it well when some awful classmates use body spray to pretend that they’re fumigating a bee that is just trying to pollinate some flowers. Why are people obsessed with cruel and unusual punishments? The only warning Keith gives is “The only good human being is a dead one,” before definitely decking someone in the face with his judo moves and starting a full-blown brawl, might have been with James. Is he taking things too far again? The better question to ask is, can he break James’ nose before someone successfully stops him? He just wants to make James cry a little. Keith reminds himself to put _ambitious_ and _passionate about personal values_ in his resume.

“We have to stop meeting up like this,” Iverson says tiredly, stashing away his ‘principal of the year’ district award before Keith accidentally swipes it onto the floor and scratches the plating again. And he would _‘accidentally’_ do it again too. Keith stubs his sneakers on the flooring and scowls at the administrator.

“If you stopped calling me here, then we would stop meeting like this. It’s pretty simple math,” Keith snips, calling upon his nonexistent telekinetic powers to get magically released from the conversation he’s had for way too many times.

“You know why we called you here, right? You know you can’t start fights and threaten bodily harm.”

Keith shrugs nonchalantly, schooling his face to impassivity. In the name of Elsa of Arendelle, conceal don’t feel. Adults always say violence is not the answer when they’re in positions of power, but that’s just probably because they’re afraid Keith is going to try biting them again—well, they’re _not wrong_. George Orwell once said, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others” and honestly, _mood_. James gets to walk back to class with a smug grin and a warning because his dad is the vice principal; Keith walks away with a one-week suspension and a stern phone call to Krolia. Maybe they will never understand, Keith broods, because they are all part of the system.

-

Keith resigns himself to a life of being misunderstood, just like the short-lived capri shorts trend. They’re perfect for three out of four seasons, usually always have pockets, and have great maneuverability. The only person Keith will accept pulling off the super-popularized skinny jeans trend is this boy in his biology class named Lance, who is super scared of bugs. George Orwell once said, “Four legs good, two legs bad” but Lance’s cute giraffe legs have enough length for two people, so maybe Keith can make an exception? They were not the greatest at being friends at first, but Keith’s very limited social circle kept clashing with Lance’s until Keith ended up in Lance’s social circle because he’s apparently friends with the whole school. Lance does pull him aside, secretly announces that Keith is Lance’s favorite bug trainer. You show a boy how to curl up a roly-poly _one time_ and suddenly you’re a bug trainer. Keith’s ear tingles and shoots happy shivers down his spine at the thought of being Lance’s favorite anything, so he punches Lance in the shoulder and tries to flee. Lance catches him by the excess strap of his backpack and tugs him back, laughing obnoxiously. Lance pulls some sour gummy worms out from his jacket pocket, bites one half of a gummy, and shares the other with Keith. Rinse and repeat. H HHHHHH In…direct kisses. Lance sucks at the sour salt from his fingers with his teeth and tongue; Keith nearly faints.

Lance doesn’t have his own apartment or anything, he actually lives with like a hundred different people in his family, so it’s insanely admirable how Lance hasn’t gone totally crazy yet. Also, Lance has a pretty kissable face, so yeah, he’s cool in the way Adam probably is.

-

One of Keith’s favorite pastime is cupping his hands together and having Lance guess whether or not there’s a spider inside; Lance always screams and overreacts about how he needs Keith to console him after, but never shoos Keith away or tell him he’s a weirdo or a freak. (It is surprisingly outrageously fun hanging out with him. Does he sound jaded if he says that doesn’t happen often? Whenever Keith feels like interacting with people, he somehow always gets drawn into Lance’s orbit, but Keith doesn’t really want to think about what that might means.)

It’s established that Lance doesn’t like bugs, but there is an exception. Lance is not that afraid of butterflies and ladybugs, probably because they’re super cute and colorful. (Lance is also super cute and colorful, ugh, can the universe just put Keith out of his misery or give him a boyfriend already?) It doesn’t mean anything when Keith scours the bushes for a ladybug and approaches Lance at lunch with it, a little peace offering. At first Lance flinches, thinking it’s going to be another flying beetle in Keith’s hands, but eventually he coos at the ladybug tottering across his palm. Lance perches his fingers over Keith’s wrist, and Keith tries not to vibrate too hard at the feel of his crush establishing physical contact.

“Cute,” Lance says, looking at Keith with twinkling eyes or something.

“Yeah,” Keith breathes, “they can eat up to 5,000 insects in their lifetime and they play dead to protect themselves.”

Lance blinks in surprise, “So it’s a little dog? Think we can teach it to play fetch?” Keith is MELTING.

“No, they’re technically beetles. Why do you think it’s a dog?” Lance rolls his eyes at Keith, shaking his head.

“This is our dog now, Keith. Say hello to our puppy,” Lance says.

“Hello,” Keith says automatically, and the ladybug flies away.

“They grow up so fast,” Lance pretends to wipe a stray tear and leans his head on Keith’s shoulder. Keith’s never known how much he wanted to co-parent a ‘dog’ with Lance until now. Oh no, now he’s going to want his crush to be requited. Dang it.

-

Keith claws at his face in distress while he vents his ~feelings~ to Mr. Shiro during one of their lunch breaks while they’re still alone. Lance and friends have started joining them in the classroom because some people actually enjoy air-conditioning, not that Mr. Shiro minds when they stop by. Lance is actually like _good_ at giving relationship advice because he’s emotionally sensitive to others and thoughtful and nice. (It’s been super helpful to have a human google translate for cryptid Adam-speak.)

(What even does ‘your fish is a bit fishy’ even mean?)

(It means leave the cooking to Adam.)

Keith’s brain is just like hur-dur bugs can also fart. Poot poot. So that means Keith is completely blindsided when Lance eventually asks Keith out first.

“Why do you want to do that,” Keith asks, physically reeling back from shock.

“What do you mean why?” Lance asks, equally bewildered. “I thought you liked me!”

“I do! How do you know that!”

Lance cocks his hip, begins listing off his fingers, “You started wearing scented deodorant and staring me down every time you win a track race in P.E. I’m pretty sure google said those are courting behaviors! I think it’s called posturing??” Mr. Shiro nearly snorts out the water he was drinking, eyes blowing wide and freezing in his seat when Lance and Keith turn to look at him.

“No sorry, continue,” Mr. Shiro says quietly, shoveling some more rice in his mouth and adverting his eyes.

“Duh, I want to go out with you,” Keith says eventually, immediately thereafter, falling to a fetal position underneath a desk and covering his bright red ears. He is not immune to embarrassment.

“Adam, you are not going to believe this,” Shiro says quietly into his phone.

Lance huffs, fishing Keith out from his ball of embarrassment so they can eat lunch together before the bell rings.

-

Extra scrapped excerpts:

(If they were younger)

“Has your mom eaten your dad yet?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, men sacrifice themselves during the mating process so females can produce off-springs. It’s the cycle of life, I saw it in National Geographic.”

“My dad is alive, if he dies during the mating process why do I have so many siblings?”

“Maybe your mom isn’t finished with him yet? Duh. Or…or maybe he’s a zombie.” Lance looks at Keith in horror, stumbling into his seat and holding his head in his hands.

“Oh my god,” Lance breathes.

-

(If Keith asks Lance out)

“I think I’m going to ask Lance if he wants to go the butterfly exhibit with me on Saturday,” Keith says, hoping for casual. Shiro pauses, putting down his meal-prepped salmon with brown rice.

“Keith, that is not the only way you can get Lance to cuddle with you. You can do a haunted house or a scary movie, something that won’t actually scare him.”

“Lance isn’t afraid of butterflies,” Keith frowns, “he thinks they’re pretty.”


End file.
